I had intended for this to post on the 26th, but it somehow didn’t happen. I’m now belatedly posting these videos to have something representative of this horror on the blog.

This video was shot by John Osborn of Mission Local during the initial part of the police raid on the Occupy Oakland campsite in downtown Oakland, from around 4:30 am to 6:30 am Tuesday morning. It depicts footage of several hundred police officers dressed in riot gear and armed with helmets, batons, plastic hand cuffs, and megaphones evicting the protesters from the tent city they have been living in since October 10 in front of Frank Ogawa Plaza by City Hall.

This video is a rough cut and has not been edited. There are gaps and changes in the sound level, and it is not entirely in chronological order. This video also contains strong language. Additional footage provided by guslto99.

I have tried to blog about OccupyHouston every day almost since the beginning at Hermann Park. I’ve been down there four or five times. Once, I even brought my wife.

My step-daughter goes to school in the Boston area, and I’ve encouraged her to learn about, and participate in, OccupyBoston.

I believe in this movement.

In Houston, visibility is THE key issue. We absolutely don’t want to be in the news for violence, but the problem is that OccupyHouston doesn’t seem to be in the news at all. Our so-called hometown newspaper does stories on OccupyWallStreet/Portland/Oakland/etc., but the Houston Chronicle doesn’t mention OccupyHouston unless they’re practically forced to. I can’t even find any mention in the Chronicle of OccupyHouston at City Hall, and from the OccupyHouston blog it sounded pretty successful. This is true, even though I’ve done a moderately time-consuming search of recent Chronicle articles. And the simple fact is, if I have to HUNT for news of OccupyHouston, than our local part of the movement is missing the point.

I have what may be a bold suggestion: Occupy The Houston Chronicle! Not necessarily the building itself, since that would be trespassing, but certainly the protest can make itself visible outside the Chron.

Can a newspaper ignore a protest against itself? Would the TV or radio stations in Houston cover a story protesting the Chron’s failure to cover its own homegrown protest movement? Would the Chron’s failure to report a protest against itself (if such should be the case) become its own story?

Occupy Houston is proud to announce its first ever Corporate House of Horrors! On October 29th, 7:00pm-10:00pm, Tranquility Park will be transformed into a spooky, eerie, freaaaaky haunted house – with one catch! Info below the jump.

OPINION PIECE: Like some of the commentors I’ve been reading at various places on the OccupyHouston.org website, I, too, am concerned about a loss of focus of our #OccupyHouston movement.

The diverse support for OCCUPY seems to coalesce around one basic premise: The out-sized influence exercised by large corporations and the rich — the 1% — on our nation’s politics, policies, and destiny.

At the risk of mixing metaphors, diverse support splinters when you start ‘goring’ an increasing number of different ‘oxen’.

Popular support for the OCCUPY movement has crossed virtually all ideological and philosophical lines. In spite of pundits’ criticism that there is no coherent message, there actually is a very clear message of sorts: “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

On the home page, there’s an article called Made Sustainable by Occupy Houston, wherein OH announces that it has secured a 1999 Lincoln Navigator, with the object of using it as a testbed for various, undesignated pollution-lowering technologies. I’m not prepared to criticize (I wasn’t at the GA where this decision was taken, after all), but I am concerned about ‘muddying the message’. I’m also curious how OH tends to proceed with this project.

The GA Minutes are being kept more current. The GA Minutes for Oct. 20th posted below are from Thursday. Nice job, guys!

In addition to the previously announced clean-up day (Clean Sweep!, Saturday, Oct. 22), there is mention in the GA Minutes of Oct. 22nd as a day to “Protest against police brutality”. The Minutes (posted below) provide some more details, but I’d like to see an actual announcement on the site. There’s also some question about how this event will dovetail with the clean-up event, time-wise.

I think that this is an appropriate way to see the heroes among us who maintain the occupation: “They also serve who only stand and wait.”~ John Milton (1608 – 1674) from Sonnet XIX.

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Nothing new that I can locate in the site as of 1:30 am on the 20th. (Correct me if I’m wrong.) At 3 am, I found a summary of ‘passed’ General Assembly (GA) motions which was posted on the 18th (but I had not seen the post previously). Possible updates later. Latest announcements and Details after the jump.Continue reading →

I made time to visit Tranquility Park this evening at about 10:30 PM. It’s amazing to me how inspired I feel by very little visible activity. It reminded me of the famous quote, “They also serve who only stand and wait.” ~ John Milton (1608 – 1674) from Sonnet XIX.

These are the folks who spend the dark and now increasingly chilly nights on the grass, the benches, the walls, and whatever few amenities have been gathered or donated, in order to maintain the occupation of Houston. To keep the beachhead, as it were, for the spirit and maintenance of the Occupy movement.

As usual, it didn’t take long to strike up a conversation with a couple of the occupiers. This is the third time I’ve made it to the Occupation for any span of time, and I still find it remarkable how quickly it begins to feels like I’m among friends.

United States Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas from Roosevelt, NY went toe to toe with the New York Police Department. An activist in the Occupy Wall Street movement, Thomas voiced his opinions of the NYPD police brutality that had and has been plaguing the #OWS movement.

Thomas is a 24-year-old Marine Veteran (2 tours in Iraq), he currently plays amateur football and is in college.

Thomas comes from a long line of people who sacrifice for their country: Mother, Army Veteran (Iraq), Step father, Army, active duty (Afghanistan), Grand father, Air Force veteran (Vietnam), Great Grand Father Navy veteran (World War II).